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Comment by remmargorp64 | Hacker News Reader

I've always thought it was weird how people have no problem sleeping on a hotel bed that has been slept on by potentially hundreds/thousands of people (and will even steal those mattresses), but they would never dream of buying a used mattress that even one person has slept on.

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There's no practical option for sleeping on a non-used mattress while traveling. It's not weird that people settle for it rather than refuse to travel altogether.

If I'm going to sleep on something for the next 5-10 years it doesn't make sense to compromise and buy anything other than a new mattress if I don't have to. The hotel scenario is an exception, this is everyday. It's logical when you put it in context.

Of course it makes sense. People compromise all the time but not buying the best possible thing. It saves money.

> they would never dream of buying a used mattress that even one person has slept on

Lol. Many people buy "new to you" mattresses.

Not in countries with bedbugs.

Bedbugs are easy to kill. Just steam ‘em long enough. Or some other fumigation method. Or an autoclave. Or ethylene oxide if you want to sterilize it. Or freezer temperatures for enough days.

That’s an easily industrializable problem for mattresses. They’re standard size.

Seal them up in plastic when you’re done.

Getting them out of furniture or behind floorboards is harder.

Yes, and that might work 99% of the time, but if one customer even THINKS he/she got bedbugs at your hotel, the PR hit and reputational risk hit eliminates all benefit.

Is that a regional thing? I was under the impression they just popped up every now and then, though I've never heard of any except in stories on Reddit. Don't think I heard anyone mention that it only occurs in a certain climate, and we do have airplanes so it's bound to spread to any place it can.

That said, I would totally buy a second hand mattress. People buy used clothes all the time, isn't that similar? Could contain anything (including bed bugs, the top ddg hits seem to suggest).

They can't survive and spread in cold climates.

If you buy used clothes you would (hopefully) wash and dry them thoroughly not just for bedbugs but for other parasites like head lice, chiggers, crab lice or whatever. Good luck cramming a mattress into the wash though :-P

Incorrect, I know someone who got bedbugs in Winnipeg

They thrive in 70F-80F temperatures and they die in freezing temperatures. Obviously they won't instantly die when transported to high latitudes but they won't be nearly as problematic.

It's illegal to sell a used mattress in most places, so we don't really know if people care. I personally wouldn't have a problem with a used mattress.

The Salvation Army have a good trade on used mattresses in Australia. They get them from individual donations and many of the hotels, put them through a rigorous cleaning process (that they have posters about in their stores) and sell them at a quite reasonable price.

For a person who normally can only afford a foam mattress one of the salvo's second hand inner spring mattresses is a 10 year investment that they will cherish.

I would - bedbugs.

Where I live they have to be "baked" at a certain temperature for a certain time, and there are rules about visible stains, etc.

See https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Mattresses/

Sometimes they're re-covered.

Which jurisdictions are these? Googling "used mattress illegal" returns this post as the seventh result, and most of the other results (such as https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0099-shopping-used-mat...) seem to indicate there are only restrictions on labelling or processing.

“For example, in many places, old mattresses that have been recovered with new ticking (strong, tightly woven cotton or linen fabric) can be sold as long as they are sanitized or disinfected in some way before sale. In other states, only certain parts of mattresses, such as the springs, can be reused.“

The usedness of the mattress is masked by the niceness of the room. Used mattresses, when they are sold on Craigslist or otherwise, tend to generally not be in the most pleasant of surroundings.

I bet you can move a lot of used mattresses if you dress them up like a fancy hotel room.

I use non-permeable pillow and mattress covers when traveling. The AllerEase brand is good.

I think every mattress I've ever used has been used. Paying a tenth of the price for something that is good enough is a no brainer when you don't have a lot of money.

I just prefer not to think about it. I only check for bedbugs and visible stains.

You think no one buys used mattresses? What?

It's the market for lemons. why would you want to buy someone trash of they don't want it?

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